Juanita detected my distaste and the slowing of my steps. Her voice because a soft authority. “It is desired for you to stand here for a period of time I cannot tell. If you do not wish to help me fasten you, I will get Jacob and Constance to help me lock you safe ... Please. Miss Durrant?”
What the hell could I do! I could fight and get fixed anyway or be a good little girl. It was Uncle Andrew’s ultimatum about a kidnapping all over again. I understood now why my hands and arms were free. I raised them disgustedly to place my wrists and neck where the pillory would hold them fast. I could not fail to note the clean and shinning surface in the holes in the wood. I wondered if this had been done on my account or if other girls had recently stood in this pillory to appease Uncle Andrew’s quaint sense of humor. I did not ask, but arranged my hair to the best advantage along my cheek.
“Is this the way you want me, Juanita?”
The answer was instant. The upper yoke was carefully lowered upon my waiting neck and limbs where it fitted perfectly. I turned sideways to watch Juanita click the huge iron hasp and huge padlock. I was fixed for sure.
“I expect you would now like to scratch your nose, Miss Durrant.” My jailer laughed. It is the first thing a girl wants to do when she is fastened as you are fastened now. I will do it for you and then go.” Her fingers were soft upon my skin.
“How long do I have to stand like this?” I asked unhappily.
“I have told you. I do not know. Miss Durrant. But there are worse things then standing as you are now. The worst part of it is to be left alone, and so I say goodbye.” She tilted my chin and kissed me on the lips.
The sound of Juanita’s retreating steps soon vanished. I soon felt like I was the only living thing in the world. The glade was pretty and very still but offered very little in the way of a view. Since I couldn’t stand fully erect. I could see only the grass and shrubs close by. I had to suppose the reason for placing the pillory in this isolated place was to give a girl the shivers in a constant bout of apprehension as she stood awaiting the touch of unseen hands. It was a lot better than the dungeon but I was fixed so firmly as to be frightening. My hands mocked me in their helplessness.
It was probably a couple of hours and I was becoming tired and a little scared when I heard footsteps behind my naked back, and Constance came into view. She looked at my condition approvingly, then kissed my forehead with genuine warmth before finding a chunk of wood on which to sit. Her greeting was forthright. “I’m glad you’re out of that dungeon, dear. If Juanita had kept you there much longer, dear. I would have had to do something about it.” There came a long pause. “But I don’t like the way you’re being treated anyway. I suppose Mr. Everleigh had his reasons but he’s a strange man and treats his females in strange ways. Honestly, I don’t like to see you locked in that pillory the way you are, naked and with your feet chained. And I’m sure you’re imagining all sorts of horrors about to happen.” Looking at me earnestly, she added. “I really have to do something about it.”
“You mean you’re actually going to let me loose?”
“I can’t do that, dear. You have to be punished, and this is about as mild as punishment as you’re likely to get. I’m afraid you’ll have to put up with it. I’ll make sure Juanita doesn’t leave you here all night. What I want is something more constructive, so I’ve phoned that nice Mr. Markham and told him where you are and how to get here. But he’s not likely to get her until late tomorrow or the next day because of the connections he’ll have to make.”
I was enveloped in a flood of gladness and showered my, benefactor in thanks.
“I like you, dear,” Constance continued in explanation of her acts. “I liked you back at Rockley with all those silly girls we had to look after. By the way, the girls are still there. Why don’t you ask Mr. Everleigh to give you back your old position there. I understand Elizabeth Lord is scheduled to be a prisoner there again, you liked her, didn’t you?”
“But won’t you get into all sorts of trouble if you let me free? If Andrew Everleigh discovers it was you who told Hugo where I am?” I shifted anxiously against the pillory.
“Mr. Markham would have discovered where you are anyway, it would simply have taken longer. I can’t tell what sort of pickle Juanita will have you in when he arrives, but I’ll guide his steps some way or other. And no one will ever know you were not rescued by your knight in shinning armor.”
“But if Hugo gets me off this island and back to New York, Uncle Andrew will just have me kidnapped again, or give me another of those propositions where I can come quietly or else. I won’t come here quietly again, I just won’t! Oh, Constance, you’re being so kind.”
“I really don’t know about him kidnapping you again,” Constance admitted slowly. “I do know you’ve got under his skin some way, quite probably no more than some minor thing you’ve done. Or it could just be he likes the idea of having a lady lawyer naked and handcuffed for his amusement. I wouldn’t worry too much about it, dear, because I’ve seen him interested in a lot of girls he soon forgets. Usually he sends them away with a nice check. I don’t know why he sent the two of us here, but I suppose it’s some sort of fantasy he has. If Mr. Markham comes to rescue you, you’d better run and don’t stop until you’re far away from here.”
“You can count on it. But, in the meantime, you sure you can’t let me out of this beastly contraption?”
“It wouldn’t be wise, dear. You can put up with it for a few hours. Look, Miss Durrant, it’s time I was back at the house. And, anyway, you’re supposed to be left alone. And try to stop worrying.” She kissed me gently and vanished beyond my range of vision.
Solitude returned like an ancient enemy. Once more I went through the fruitless exercises of looking at my hands, trying to twist my neck against the hard wood, and gazing as best I could at my limited view. It was a delightful view I was in no condition to enjoy. I kicked one chained foot fretfully against the other, and relapsed into a state of helplessness.
It may have been an hour or perhaps two before I heard the sounds to send shivers up and down my spine. Someone was coming, someone I could not see, but someone I instinctively felt would bring me no good. The steps were bold, there was nothing small about them. When I knew their owner was standing close behind my pilloried nakedness, I had no time to ask a question before my head and shoulders were enveloped in a sizable square of cloth. Even though it failed to blind me totally, it did prevent me from seeing what now took place. There came the unmistakable fitting of the key in the padlock, followed immediately by the lifting of the heavy metal hasp. Still in sinister silence, the cloth was whisked away by a hand behind my back to leave me blinding in amazement and hear running footsteps retreating. I stood tense and waiting and not instantly aware of possibilities.
It was a breathless moment when I tried to move but felt defeat when my tugs and twistings discovered the pillory as solid as ever. It was another minute before I realized that I had pulled instead of lifting. It was not easy pushing the heavy wood upward with the backs of my wrists but I managed to lift it far enough to get one hand turned around. Then it was easy to lift it the rest of the way and find myself standing there, arms and head completely free.
I didn’t run, my feet were still chained, and, anyway, there was nothing from which to flee. I stood there, happily rubbing wrists and neck, and examining the ridiculously large lock in which some friendly hand had turned the key - or was it a friendly hand! Enveloped in a joyous feeling of relief and release, I clinked my shackled steps to the bit of wood on which Constance had sat while we talked. I sat there too.